Bears notebook: Maynard's punts stand out

Brad Maynard, the NFL leader in punts inside the 20 (with 34) and fair catches (25), had an especially great start Monday night.

Matt Trowbridge

Brad Maynard, the NFL leader in punts inside the 20 (with 34) and fair catches (25), had an especially great start Monday night.

Maynard’s gross average (41.1 yards) hadn’t been impressive, but he opened with a 60-yard punt to the Green Bay 16. His second punt was even better: a 65-yarder into the end zone for a touchback.

But it should have been a 63-yarder to the 2.

The punt bounced at the feet of Green Bay’s Will Blackmon and took a crazy hop toward the sideline. A hustling Trumaine McBride thought the ball hit Blackmon’s leg and batted it back inbounds to Kevin Jones, who ran into the end zone for what he thought was a Bears’ touchdown. But officials ruled the ball never touched Blackmon, making it a touchback.

The Bears challenged the play, but replays upheld the original call.

Maynard’s third punt was a 25-yarder that went out of bounds at the Green Bay 9 and his final punt of the first half went out of bounds at the Packer 17.

Maynard also helped set up Chicago’s first touchdown when Jarrett Bush muffed a punt after the opening drive of the second half and Jason Davis recovered for Chicago at the Green Bay 27.

Brrrrr weather

The temperature was 2 degrees at the start of the game, making it the coldest recorded home in Bears history. The NFL did not begin to keep track of game-time temperatures until 1963.

Add in 9-mph winds from the west/southwest, and the wind-chill was minus-13 degrees, the second-lowest in Chicago history behind a minus-15 wind-chill game against the Packers in the season finale on Dec. 18, 1983. The Bears won that game 23-21.

Nineteen of the 20 coldest games in Bears history were at home. The only road game to make the top 20 was the Nov. 13, 2003, game at Denver, where the temperature was 15 degrees. The Bears won 19-10.

Man(ning) of the moment

Danieal Manning had a hand in an interception for the third time in four weeks.

He tipped a pass that Kevin Payne intercepted to set up a touchdown against Minnesota. He intercepted his only pass of the season to set up the Bears’ first touchdown against the Saints. And he leaped and tipped an Aaron Rodgers pass on a blitz late in the first quarter Monday night that fell into defensive end Alex Brown’s arms for an interception.

It was Brown’s first interception of the season and the fifth of his seven-year career.

Manning, the NFL leader in kick returns, also returned Green Bay’s first kickoff 70 yards to set up a 31-yard field goal and cut the Packers lead to 7-3 late in the second quarter.

No fast start this time

The Bears led the NFL with 44 points on their opening drive and were tied for second with 99 first-quarter points, but added to neither total Monday.

Chicago ran only 10 offensive plays in the first quarter, picking up just one first down. On the opening drive, tight end Greg Olsen lined up as a fullback on the first two plays, and caught a 7-yard pass on Chicago’s first play. But the Bears punted after Matt Forte was held to 1-yard runs on the next two plays.

Nowhere to run

Matt Forte came into the game eighth in the NFL in rushing and needed 85 yards to join Walter Payton, Neal Anderson, Thomas Jones and Gale Sayers as the only Bears to rush for 1,200 yards in a season.

He also needed 69 yards to catch Anthony Thomas (1,183 yards) for most rushing yards by a Bears’ rookie. But, playing with an injured big toe, Forte had only 20 yards rushing on 11 carries through three quarters.